Author: MP News Group

A PATIENT dubbed by his doctor as “the luckiest man in Rosebud” has thanked his good fortune – and his personal alarm – for saving his life. Rosebud man, Ron Hampton, was recently saved by the device when at home having a rest last year. “I became so overcome with pain that I couldn’t move,” he recalled. “A major blood clot cut off the blood flow to my heart and brain which totally immobilised me. “The situation and pain was so bad that I couldn’t even reach the phone nearby to ring 000, and, had I been able to call,…

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire celebrated the 20-year anniversary of its inaugural council meeting held on 20 March 1997 at the Rosebud Council Chamber. The occaision was marked with the cutting of a cake at Flinders Civic Hall. The first meeting was attended by nine councillors elected in the 1997 municipal election. The election followed the formation of the shire in December 1994 with the amalgamation of the former shires of Flinders, Mornington and Hastings. For the following three years the shire was managed by state government-appointed commissioners, Nick Hutson, Peter Newman and Jane Moffat. The shire’s first councillors were Bill Goodrem,…

WORKS by the late Mt Martha artist Rudi Fuchs will feature at the Peninsula Plein Air Painters annual exhibition and sale at Sorrento over Easter. Fuchs, 88 who passed away last December, was born in East Germany where he trained in art and won the prestigious Weimar scholarship before escaping to West Germany in 1946. He arrived in Australia in 1953 and tutured art across the Mornington Peninsula with David Taylor and Robert Wade throughout the 1960s and was a long time member of the Peninsula Plein Air group. The exhibition is being held at the Sorrento Activity Centre from…

USING a rabbit as a symbol for Easter and the tradition of distributing chocolate eggs prompted an Australia-only push to replace the agricultural pest with the more environmentally friendly bilby. The move has worked a bit, with chocolate copies of the desert marsupial (also known as a rabbit bandicoot) competing for shelf space with chocolate bunnies. However, both varieties of the children’s favourite are now being pushed aside by the clever antics of an animal much closer in heredity to humans: the Easter monkey. There is at least one book and several videos depicting Easter monkeys as “an upgrade from…

Police are appealing for public assistance to help locate missing woman Clare Hutson. The 71-year-old Bittern woman was last seen at her Island View Crescent home on Sunday. Investigators believe Clare may be in the Kilcunda area. Police and Clare’s family hold concerns for her safety due to a medical condition. Investigators have released an image of Clare in the hope that someone knows her current whereabouts. She is described as having a slim build and dark blonde shoulder length hair. Anyone who sees Clare is urged to call Hastings Police Station on 5970 7800. Source: Victoria Police News -…

ST JOSEPH’S Primary School, Crib Point, is holding a year of celebration to commemorate 90 years of catholic education in Crib Point. St Joseph’s, in Martin St, was opened in 1927 by Archbishop Mannix to allow Father AJ Martin and the Josephite sisters to provide a catholic education for defence force families. At that time, many pupils also came from the migrant camp at Somers. Funds for the original building came from parents, committees and through collections from Our Lady Star of the Sea chapel at HMAS Cerberus (formerly Flinders Naval Base). For many years the Naval chaplain supported the…

A TRACTOR and a four-wheel-drive were severely damaged when they collided on the Frankston-Flinders Rd, Balnarring, Monday morning. Sergeant Bruce Buchan, of Somerville Highway Patrol, said the crash occurred about 7.20am when the grass-cutting tractor was turning at Mt Barron Rd; the four-wheel-drive overturned on impact. The tractor driver, 72, of Somerville, was airlifted to The Alfred Hospital in a serious but non-life-threatening condition. The driver of the four-wheel-drive, 30, of Crib Point, was taken to Frankston Hospital in a serious but non-life-threatening condition. First published in the Western Port News – 28 March 2017

SLAIN Hastings jeweller Dermot O’Toole has been awarded the Star of Courage in the Australian Bravery Awards. The awards announced over the weekend recognise those who put their own lives at risk to protect the lives or property of others. Mr O’Toole, 64, died while protecting his wife, Bridget, during an armed robbery at their shop in High St in July 2013. The couple were working at the back when they heard the front door open. When Mrs O’Toole went into the shop she was confronted by a man in disguise approaching the counter. The offender – later identified as…

FELIX Arena, pictured, has been named Somerville Community Member of the Year. The award – announced at Somerville Family Day on Monday 13 March –  was made in response to his “selfless commitment to helping and improving the community of Somerville”. Mr Arena founded the annual family day in a bid to bring the community together to celebrate the local area and its variety of skills and talents. He is president of the family day committee, runs his own business and started up the town’s first soccer club – the Somerville Eagles. Chrissy Kouvaras, a member of the committee, said Mr Arena…

BELEURA Junior Football Club representatives Matty Mayne and Khyal Jacobson have excelled in the 2017 AFLNZ Premiership held in New Zealand. AFLNZ approached the boys at the start of the year to participate in New Zealand’s premier football league as part of a pilot program after their performance in the 2016 ANZAC Tour. Since leaving on 2 March, the boys played three matches in the AFLNZ Premiership against some of the best senior players in the country. They also worked as ambassadors for AFLNZ and have had continued support from the Mornington Peninsula Junior Football League. Jacobson, 16, was a…

SOCCER By Craig MacKenzie MORNINGTON’S title threepeat attempt got off to a flyer last Friday night with an impressive 2-0 away win over Casey Comets. Adam Jamieson’s men bossed their fancied opponent from the outset, particularly in midfield, where Scottish duo Craig Smart and Chris Reid were dominant. The confronting thought for others with eyes on the championship is that Mornington can only get stronger as the club maintains an interest in English striker Josh Hine from Salford City while another forward, Simon Mur, is back after two years in the UK and looking sharp in training. Young Josh Valadon…

By Barry Morris IT IS the great mysterious love story of estuaries and creeks across the Mornington Peninsula that has its beginning and end 4000 kilometres away in the Coral Sea. Short-finned eels (Anguilla australis) live in or around the waterways for 10 to 20 years, maybe longer, growing up to one metre long and as thick as a man’s arm. Nobody seems to know how often, but around the full moon on an Easter tide they burst out of the estuary in their thousands to return to the Coral Sea to mate and die. And the cycle starts all…

THE CFA is urging landowners in the cities of Frankston and Kingston and Mornington Peninsula Shire to register burn-offs and avoid unnecessary call-outs. With the official end of the fire danger period on Monday (27 March), CFA operations manager Mark Kennedy said there would be a lot of private burn-offs over the next few weeks due to vegetation growth caused by heavy rainfalls at the start of the year. He urged people to check conditions and register their burn-offs. Mr Kennedy said every year firefighters had to respond to calls from the public concerned about smoke in the air from…

A SORRENTO commercial site sold at auction for $3.71 million on Saturday 11 March – more than $1.31 million over the reserve. The sale of 157-163 Ocean Beach Rd attracted 68 bids from the 300-strong crowd. It achieved an area record of $6700 a square metre for the 554 square metre block on a yield of 2.6 per cent. The corner site contains two freestanding commercial buildings – Happy Days and Patrick’s – and is said to be “strategically positioned” adjoining a 200-space council car park. Selling agent Sandro Peluso, of CBRE, says the sale proves the Mornington Peninsula property…

THE long term operation and safety of Tyabb airfield is being scrutinised as part of the preparation of a precinct plan by Mornington Peninsula Shire. “Council recognises that the airfield and the surrounding areas require careful consideration and the development of a policy and planning framework to provide for the long term operation of the airfield while protecting the safety and amenity of residents,” shire strategic projects manager Allan Cowley said. As well as making written submissions residents can attend three drop-in sessions being organised with consultants hire by the shire, Kneebush Planning and Arcadis. Mr Cowley said that “as…

By Ben Triandafillou TWO AFL premiership players will be coming to the peninsula in April to play a few matches for local Nepean League football teams. The Pearcedale Football Club will have the ex-AFL stars Daniel Kerr and Barry Hall joining their line-up for a couple of one-off matches at the start of their season. Kerr, 33, spent his entire career at the West Coast Eagles and helped take the side to a one-point victory in the 2006 AFL grand final. Kerr will play his first match for the Tyabb Football Club on 01 April before slipping on the boots…

SOCCER By Craig MacKenzie CHAMPIONSHIP aspirants Casey Comets and Mornington slug it out on Friday night at Comets Stadium in a blockbuster opening to the 2017 league season. Both sides have made significant changes to their squads during the off-season and the visitors have boosted their chances of a State 1 South-East title threepeat by improving both the quality and depth of their personnel. Both camps are keen to get off to a flyer in a season where the championship winner is offered a place in the second tier of the elite NPL competition for 2018. At the heart of…

A P-PLATE driver who crashed on the Esplanade, Mt Martha, Sunday 12 March, was lucky not to have plunged 50 metres onto rocks. Roadside vegetation snagged the Holden Apollo’s axles after the driver, 19, of Dandenong, lost control while reportedly racing up to six other cars on the narrow, winding road, at 9.30pm. Although it has a designated 60kph limit, police believe he may have been going much faster. Police, ambulance and CFA trucks rushed to the scene and used ropes to prevent the car from falling over the jagged clifftop with the man still trapped inside. He was later…

A RUN and fun festival in Mt Eliza next Sunday (26 March) to raise money for people affected by multiple myeloma is likely to become an annual event. Event Organiser Geoff Nyssen said more than 300 people had already signed up for the scheduled 5km and 10km running and walking events at Emil Madsen Reserve, Wooralla Drive. The day will include a kids’ dash, skate, BMX and scooter competitions, as well as stalls and refreshments. “We’re extremely excited about this event and the awareness it will bring to this illness,” Mr Nyssen, who was diagnosed with the terminal blood cancer…

THE Mornington Peninsula Tennis International which started this week at Mornington, has attracted the highest number of international entrants in its three-year history. Players include former world number 16 Arantxa Rus and Australia’s Destanee Aiava. Rus has won 12 International Tennis Federation pro circuit titles and is a current member of the Netherlands Federation Cup team. Aiava won the Australian under-18 championships at the end of last year, reached the second round of the Brisbane International and two weeks ago won the Perth Pro Tour event. The Mornington Peninsula Tennis International gives top players a chance to earn world ranking…

KATHY Robinson, of Hastings, is the recipient of this year’s Alf Tallon community memorial award. The award goes to someone who contributes their time and effort to their community. It is supported by the Bank of Bendigo. Ms Robinson started volunteering 40 years ago as a driver for the Association for the Blind, while also advocating for people with disabilities and working for the Office of Public Advocacy. After retiring, she continued to support her community as treasurer of the Probus club and Hastings U3A. She also volunteers at the Bays Aged Care, the Reading for Life program, Western Port…

SOCCER By Craig MacKenzie SUPERSUB Michael Freeman’s extra time winner at Dallas Brooks Park on Saturday sent Mornington through to the fourth round of the 2017 FFA Cup. Mornington and fellow State 1 South-East title contender Malvern City went head to head in what loomed as the most intriguing cup clash of the round. The pair locked horns in a battle that didn’t reach the heights expected but nevertheless was a closely fought affair that saw Mornington run out a 2-1 victor. Mornington assistant coach Dale White stepped into the head coach’s role in the absence of Adam Jamieson, holidaying…

The celebration of Graeme’s ’60 Summers’ album continues as he heads to Frankston Arts Centre on Thursday 23rd March. He recently had three nominations for the 2017 Golden Guitar Awards held in Tamworth on Saturday January 28. The song 60 SUMMERS is nominated for Single Of The Year, Video of The Year and APRA AMCOS Song of the Year. This album has had the longest continuous run in the ARIA Top 40 Album Chart of any Australian  album newly released in 2016.  The latest single, MT EVEREST is currently sitting at #20 on The Music Network Country Airplay Chart and…

THREE of the biggest pop icons of the 1960s – Normie Rowe, Ross D Wylie and Johnnie Young – are coming to the Mornington Peninsula for a spectacular step back in time. Between 1965 and 1967 Rowe was the biggest male pop star in Australia, and for two years he reigned supreme as Australia’s first King of Pop. He had a string of solo hits, with Shakin’ All Over the top-selling Australian single of the 1960s and still one of the biggest-selling Australia recordings. Johnny Young started his career in the 1960s with number one hits Step Back and Cara…

TOORAK College recently celebrated the official opening of a new international-standard sports track and hockey field, and is hoping the ground will fill a gap in quality hockey and track facilities on the Mornington Peninsula. Hockey Victoria has expressed interest in having a permanent presence at the field, and the school hopes it can be a venue for  international competition. Hockeyroos goalkeeper, dual Commonwealth Games medalist and Olympian Rachael Lynch joined students during a training session for the opening and expressed her approval of the facility. Principal Kristy Kendall said the land used to be large open space known as…

IT gobbles fuel and emits smoke and steam like a legendary dragon, but the historic 75-year-old steam train K163 is a drawcard for children where it is stabled at Moorooduc railway station. The engine will be all fired up on Sunday (19 March) when the train again takes to the tracks to see if it can beat a bunch of fleet-footed children. Mt Eliza Rotary Club’s annual kids’ fun run is open to children aged three to 12 and has graded distances (150-1200 metres) according to competitors’ ages. The children race on a separate purpose built and secure track alongside…

THIS year’s Winter Blanket Appeal will not be about blankets. St Vincent de Paul and Southern Peninsula Community Support at Rosebud are reportedly “awash with blankets”. And the view of the appeal’s organisers is that given the relative cheapness of reasonable quality doonas, young families prefer them. So organisations which provide warm bedding and clothing this year are focussing on doonas. However, the army of knitters that provides hundreds of blankets and warm hand knitted clothing, could start on beanies, scarves, gloves, jumpers and jackets for all ages. “Unwanted wool from unfinished projects to help those knitters who can’t afford…

By Tony Duboudin A HASTINGS resident believes he can throw some light on the mystery disappearance in 1937 of the American aviator Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan while on a flight around the world. Earhart was last seen taking off from the territory of Papua New Guinea, then administered by Australia. Patrick Gibbons, who has lived in Hastings for the past 13 years, remembers his then father in law, Allan Roberts, who was assistant district officer in Wau in PNG at the time, telling him about witnessing Earhart taking off from Lae on what proved to be her…

By Ben Triandafillou ROSEBUD Country Club member, Andrew Schonewille, has recently joined the professional ranks after a very impressive amateur career on the Australian circuit. Schonewille’s amateur career was far from ordinary leading a Victorian Open after the second round in 2014 and receiving a full scholarship for the 2016 Victorian Elite Squad. Schonewille is currently in New Zealand for a couple of weeks competing in the ISPS Handa New Zealand Open with fellow Rosebud professional golfer, James Marchesani. Marchesani has noticed considerable improvement in Schonewille’s game over the years and is impressed with his transition to a professional golfer.…

SOCCER By Craig MacKenzie A BROKEN leg, a 9-0 thrashing, send-offs and melees involving players, both benches, coaches and spectators – the 2017 FFA Cup had it all last weekend. Rosebud Heart veteran Simon O’Donnell suffered a broken fibia and tibia of his right leg during Saturday’s 3-1 win over Dandenong Warriors at Knox Regional Centre. “That’s my career over. I don’t want my son ever seeing that again and will just focus on my weekends with him,” said O’Donnell on Sunday awaiting surgery at Knox Private Hospital. Heart was 2-0 up after 11 minutes thanks to a sizzling strike…